Book review: The Job by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

Pam Norfolk

Crime, action, danger, a dash of romance and a big Christmas-size helping of wicked repartee… dynamic cop-and-robber duo Fox and O’Hare are back on a new assignment.

This is the third brilliant writing collaboration between Janet Evanovich, author of the massively popular Stephanie Plum novels, and Lee Goldberg, bestselling author of the Monk series.

Following hot on the heels of their breathless adventures in The Heist and The Chase, thief and con artist Nicolas Fox and die-hard FBI agent Kate O’Hare are back in harness for another action-packed, fun-filled thriller brimming with their trademark brand of deadly danger, murderous crooks and international mayhem.

Catching bad guys is what Special Agent Kate O’Hare does best… in fact, that’s how she met her work partner Nick Fox. He was a world class conman and thief who was eventually tracked down and captured by Kate, only to discover that she had let him escape on the orders of her boss.

Nick was released on condition that he uses his unique skills to help Kate nail big-time criminals the FBI would never catch using conventional means. So now ex-Navy Seal Kate has an incredibly handsome, world-class conman as a partner, and keeping track of him is a full-time job.

Kate, however, is not convinced when Nick is seemingly caught on camera stealing a $5 million Matisse painting from the wall of a museum of art in broad daylight in Nashville, taking him right from the FBI’s most covert operative back to the top of America’s most-wanted list.

Firstly, the thief was wearing a hoodie and she knows better than anyone that Nick ‘shops on Savile Row, not at the outlet mall.’ Secondly, it’s the kind of job that would be merely ‘high-end shoplifting’ for this master criminal.

Someone is setting Nick up and it’s down to Kate to figure out why before the irrepressible master of disguise is beaten at his own game…

This is an extraordinarily addictive series, each book providing an entertaining, standalone crime caper with plenty of twists and turns, dark humour, dodgy villains, pulsating action and exquisite frissons of sexual tension between the tough cookie agent and her handsome, sweet-talking partner.

So whether you like rom-coms, pulsating thrillers or all-action adventure, this gorgeous romp could be just The Job.

(Headline, hardback, £19.99)

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